HOT TOPICS:

For centuries the giant squid has been the stuff of legend, but now, for the first time ever, scientists have collected footage of a giant squid, (Architeuthis), in its natural habitat, thousands of feet below the ocean's surface.

"All of us were so amazed at what it looked like," Edie Widder, a marine biologist who was part of the successful video making mission, told the Los Angeles Times. "It looked carved out of metal. And it would change from being silver to gold. It was just breathtaking."

Scientists encountered the squid in the North Pacific Ocean, near the Ogasawara archipelago of Japan. They first saw the squid at a depth of 2,066 feet and followed it down to a depth of 2,952 feet before it swam down into the inky abyss, Agence France-Presse reports.